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The Knife

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The Knife

The Knife are an electro pop duo from Sweden, formed in 1999.[1] The group consist of siblings Karin Dreijer Andersson and Olof Dreijer, who together also run their own record company, Rabid Records. They first received international attention after their song "Heartbeats", covered by José González, appeared in a commercial by Sony. Subsequent songs have appeared on a number of television shows. Their first tour took place in 2006, as well as the release of their critically acclaimed album Silent Shout. They have won a number of Swedish Grammis, but refuse to attend awards ceremonies. They have appeared in public wearing Venetian masks. Andersson released a solo album under the name Fever Ray in 2009.

History

Formed in 1999, the group first gained international recognition when José González covered their song "Heartbeats" on his 2003 album, Veneer. The cover was used by Sony in a commercial for Bravia television sets, and released as a single in 2006. The group commented on this in a Dagens Nyheter article, claiming that Sony paid a large sum of money to use the song. Despite the group's anti-commercial views, they justified the transaction by citing their need for money to establish a record company.

Having never before performed live, The Knife went on tour in 2006, and after selling out shows worldwide, a DVD of the tour was announced. The DVD was released in Sweden on November 8, 2006, and is titled Silent Shout: An Audio Visual Experience.

On August 4, 2009, the band announced that, in collaboration with Mt. Sims and Planningtorock, they would be writing an opera for the Danish performance group Hotel Pro Forma. The opera, titled Tomorrow, In A Year, is based on Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species. In January 2010, the band announced that they would release a studio version on March 1.[2]

Relationship with the media

The Knife rarely cooperate with the media or the mainstream music scene. Until 2006, they did not perform live concerts. The group rarely makes public appearances; most of their promotional photos feature the members wearing masks with birds' beaks, similar to the traditional Venetian Medico Della Peste (plague doctor) masks worn during Carnival.

The Knife won a Grammis award as best pop group of the year 2003, but they boycotted the ceremony by sending two representatives of the Guerilla Girls, with the number 50 written on their costumes, as a protest against male dominance in the music industry.[3] Their album Deep Cuts was also nominated for a Grammis as the best record of the year 2003, although that award went to The Cardigans. At the Grammis awards in January 2007, The Knife won in all six categories that they were nominated in: Composer of the Year, Music DVD of the Year, Producer of the Year, Pop Group of the Year, Album of the Year, and Artist of the Year. Again, they did not attend the award ceremony. On another occasion, they did not come to collect the award but sent a manipulated video that muffled their voices and made them look very elderly.

Silent Shout was named the best album of 2006 by Pitchfork Media.[4] The song "We Share Our Mothers' Health" from the album was featured by the iTunes Store as a free song of the week in late 2006. This song was also featured in the ABC series Ugly Betty, as well as an episode of CSI: NY. In August 2007, "Heartbeats" was featured on an episode of the HBO series Entourage.[5]

Influences

The Knife have listed David Lynch, Laurie Anderson, Aki Kaurismäki, Korean cinema, Trailer Park Boys, Donnie Darko, Doom, and Black Hole as inspirations for their work.[6] In addition, Dreijer cited techno, grime, and Southern hip hop, while Andersson named Sonic Youth, Kate Bush, dEUS, Le Tigre and Siouxsie and the Banshees.[3]

Members' solo projects

In 2008, Karin Dreijer Andersson announced that she would release a solo album under the name Fever Ray in March 2009. The album was digitally released (on iTunes and via other outlets) in advance of this date.

Olof Dreijer performs as DJ Coolof, and has released work under the name Oni Ayhun Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). |- | Swedish Hit Music Awards | Best Video “Heartbeats”[7] |- | Swedish National Radio P3 “Gold” | Group of the Year[7] |- | Grammis |Pop Group of the Year[7] |- | rowspan="2"| 2004 |Manifest Awards |Pop Rock[7] |- |Scandinavian Alternative Music Awards (SAMA) |Song of the Year "Heartbeats" |- |rowspan="3"|2006 |Pitchfork Media |Album of the Year |- |rowspan="2"|Manifest Awards |Dance/House Techno of the Year |- |Live Performers of the Year |- |rowspan="10"|2007 |rowspan="2"|Swedish National Radio P3 “Gold” |Group of the Year |- |Dance of the Year |- |rowspan="6"|Grammis |Artist of the Year |- |Pop Album of the Year “Silent Shout” |- |Songwriters of the Year |- |Pop Producers of the Year |- |Music-DVD of the Year "Silent Shout: An Audiovisual Experience" |- |Pop Group of the Year |- |rowspan="2"|SAMA |Song of the Year "Marble House" |- |Album of the Year "Silent Shout" |}

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.theknife.net/o0ooooo.html
  2. ^ http://www.dummymag.com/features/2010/01/12/the-knife-interview-yes-/
  3. ^ a b Jack Foley, "The Knife: Swedish duo hoping to cut it in synth-pop world," indieLondon, http://www.indielondon.co.uk/music/mu_knife_bio.html
  4. ^ "The 50 Albums of 2006". Pitchfork Media. 2006-12-19. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
  5. ^ "Entourage Music: Season 04: Episode 52 "Snow Job"". HBO. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
  6. ^ Pytlik, Mark (2006-07-24). "Interview: The Knife". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
  7. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference Knife was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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